--- name: "lvmdevices" section: "8" platform: "linux" package: "lvm2" version: "2.03.44-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/lvmdevices" --- # lvmdevices(8) Manage the devices file ## NAME lvmdevices — Manage the devices file ## SYNOPSIS - **lvmdevices** *option\_args* \[ *option\_args* \] **--adddev** *PV*\ **--addid** *String*\ **--addpvid** *String*\ **--check**\ **--commandprofile** *String*\ **--config** *String*\ **-d**\|**--debug** ...\ **--deldev** *String*\ **--delid** *String*\ **--delnotfound**\ **--delpvid** *String*\ **--deviceidtype** *String*\ **--devices** *PV*\ **--devicesfile** *String*\ **--driverloaded** **y**\|**n**\ **-f**\|**--force** ...\ **-h**\|**--help**\ **--journal** *String*\ **--listids** *PV*\ **--lockopt** *String*\ **--longhelp**\ **--nohints**\ **--nolocking**\ **--profile** *String*\ **-q**\|**--quiet** ...\ **--refresh**\ **-t**\|**--test**\ **--update**\ **-v**\|**--verbose** ...\ **--version**\ **-y**\|**--yes** ## DESCRIPTION The LVM devices file is the list of devices that lvm commands will use. It is located at */etc/lvm/devices/system.devices*. The [**lvmdevices**(8)](/lvmdevices/8.md) command manages the file, and is used to add, remove and list devices. ### Listing devices Run the lvmdevices command with no options or arguments to display the entries in system.devices:\ **lvmdevices** Each line begins with a current device name from the system, followed by its device ID from the devices file, followed by other device details used by lvm. A line begins with "Device none" if no device on the system matches the device ID. (Viewing the system.devices file directly does not indicate if a device is present on the system.) ### Adding devices To use a device with lvm, add it to the devices file with one of the following commands. Add a device by referencing its device path:\ **lvmdevices --adddev** *device* Add a device by referencing its PVID:\ **lvmdevices --addpvid** *PVID* Add a device by referencing its device ID:\ **lvmdevices --addid** *IDNAME* **--deviceidtype** *IDTYPE* Add all of the PVs in a VG:\ **vgimportdevices** *VG* Add all of the PVs in all visible VGs:\ **vgimportdevices -a** **pvcreate,** **vgcreate,** and **vgextend** also look outside of the existing devices file to find the target device, and automatically add it to the devices file. ### Removing devices Removing a device from the devices file will prevent lvm from seeing or using that device. Remove a device with one of the following commands. Remove a device by referencing its device path:\ **lvmdevices --deldev** *device* Remove a device by referencing its PVID:\ **lvmdevices --delpvid** *PVID* Remove a device by referencing its device ID:\ **lvmdevices --delid** *IDNAME* **--deviceidtype** *IDTYPE* ### device IDs LVM identifies devices in the devices file using hardware-specific IDs, such as the WWID or serial number. Subsystem-specific IDs are used for virtual device types, which also aim to be unique and stable. When no hardware or subsystem ID is available, lvm falls back to using the device name as the device ID. Using device names as IDs is not optimal because they are not stable, and will often change after reboot. When device names are used as IDs, lvm must perform extra device scanning to locate devices if the device name changes. When stable device IDs are used, lvm will not access devices outside of those listed in the devices file. When device names are used as IDs, lvm will scan devices outside the devices file to locate PVs on devices that changed names. The config setting search\_for\_devnames can be used to control lvm's behavior in locating renamed devname entries. A device ID has two parts: an IDTYPE and an IDNAME. The IDTYPE specifies the origin of the ID, and the IDNAME is the actual identifier. There is a predefined set of IDTYPEs listed in the next section. A devices file entry must have one of these ID types. When adding a device to the devices file, lvm automatically chooses the best IDTYPE, which can be overridden with the --deviceidtype option (this is not generally recommended.) To display all of the possible device IDs for a device, or the value of one specific type, use the commands: **lvmdevices --listids** *device*\ **lvmdevices --listids** *device* **--deviceidtype** *IDTYPE* ### device ID types The available device ID types are:\ - • **sys\_wwid** uses the wwid reported by the wwid sysfs file. This is the first choice. - • **wwid\_naa** uses the naa wwid decoded from the vpd\_pg83 sysfs file. - • **wwid\_eui** uses the eui wwid decoded from the vpd\_pg83 sysfs file. - • **wwid\_t10** uses the t10 wwid decoded from the vpd\_pg83 sysfs file. - • **sys\_serial** uses the serial number reported by the serial sysfs file or the vpd\_pg80 file. A serial number is used if no wwid is available. - • **mpath\_uuid** is used for dm multipath devices, reported by sysfs. - • **crypt\_uuid** is used for dm crypt devices, reported by sysfs. - • **md\_uuid** is used for md devices, reported by sysfs. - • **lvmlv\_uuid** is used if a PV is placed on top of an LVM LV, reported by sysfs. - • **loop\_file** is used for loop devices, the backing file name reported by sysfs. - • **devname** the device name is used if no other type applies. - • **nvme\_uuid, nvme\_nguid, nvme\_eui64** are not generally used, but may appear for nvme devices that report invalid wwid values. ### sysfs files Most of the device ID types read the device ID value from sysfs. Those sysfs values can also be read directly from the following paths: ``` /sys/dev/block/major:minor/device/wwid /sys/dev/block/major:minor/device/serial /sys/dev/block/major:minor/wwid /sys/dev/block/major:minor/device/vpd_pg83 (binary) /sys/dev/block/major:minor/device/vpd_pg80 (binary) /sys/dev/block/major:minor/dm/uuid (lvm reads via ioctl) /sys/dev/block/major:minor/md/uuid /sys/dev/block/major:minor/loop/backing_file ``` (Some sysfs values are modified before being used as the device ID, e.g. spaces omitted or replaced with underscores.) ### devices file contents LVM writes some additional information to the devices file in addition to the device IDs. LVM commands automatically update this information if it changes. This includes the last known device name, and the PV UUID (PVID) from the LVM disk header. Check if the devices file content needs to be updated:\ **lvmdevices --check** Update devices file fields that are outdated:\ **lvmdevices --update** The devices file is meant to be edited by lvm commands, not by the user. The devices file contains a HASH value which lvm uses to detect if the file has been modified since lvm last wrote it. When lvm updates the devices file, the previous version is moved to /etc/lvm/devices/backup/. The following fields can be found in the devices file:\ VERSION: incremented for each file update.\ PRODUCT\_UUID: a unique machine ID used to detect if the system.devices file has been moved to a new machine, and may require updating. When not available, HOSTNAME is used. Device entry fields:\ IDTYPE: indicates the source of the device ID value in IDNAME.\ IDNAME: the unique device ID value.\ DEVNAME: the most recent device name associated with the device ID.\ PVID: the LVM PV UUID from the LVM disk header.\ PART: the partition number if a PV exists on a partition. ### device ID refresh When lvm writes system.devices, it includes a local machine ID in the system.devices file (as PRODUCT\_UUID or HOSTNAME.) When lvm reads system.devices, it compares this saved machine ID to the current machine, which allows lvm to detect when system.devices has been copied or restored onto a different machine. When a machine change is detected, lvm enables a "device ID refresh" mode (configured by lvm.conf device\_ids\_refresh and device\_ids\_refresh\_checks.) In refresh mode, a device in system.devices that is not found by its device ID will be located using its PVID. LVM will scan all devices on the system to search for the missing PVIDs in system.devices. If a PVID is found on a new device, the system.devices entry is updated with a new device ID matching the new device on which the PVID was found. The refresh mode can be configured to run once, when the machine change is first detected, or can be enabled for a period of time following the first refresh, or can be disabled entirely. **device\_ids\_refresh = 0**\ Disables refresh mode. **device\_ids\_refresh = 1**\ Enables one attempt to refresh device IDs when a machine change is first detected. **device\_ids\_refresh =** *seconds*\ The refresh mode is enabled for this number of seconds following the initial refresh attempt, or until all PVs in system.devices are found. During this period, a REFRESH\_UNTIL line appears in system.devices. Accepted values are 10-600 seconds. In addition to the automated device ID refresh mode, refresh can be performed manually: Check if system.devices would be updated with new device IDs:\ **lvmdevices --check --refresh** Update system.devices with new device IDs if PVs are found on new devices:\ **lvmdevices --update --refresh** The machine ID used in system.devices will be either the DMI product\_uuid from */sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/product\_uuid*, or the hostname from [**uname**(2)](/uname/2.md). See [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md) **device\_ids\_refresh\_checks** to configure this. ### custom devices files Multiple devices files can be kept in /etc/lvm/devices, which allows lvm to be used with different sets of devices. For example, a given application may not need to access the system's devices, and the system may not need to access the application's devices. In this case, system.devices could list only the system's devices and the \.devices file could list only the application's devices. The option --devicesfile \ is used to select the devices file to use with the command. Without the option set, the default system.devices file is used. If the special devices file */etc/lvm/devices/dmeventd.devices* exists, then dmeventd uses dmeventd.devices instead of system.devices. Using dmeventd.devices is necessary if VGs from separate devices files require the services of dmeventd. In this case, dmeventd.devices should list devices from all of the VGs that require dmeventd. ### disabling and overriding There are multiple ways that the devices file feature can be disabled or overridden: - • no system.devices\ If the system.devices file does not exist, then the devices file feature is disabled. - • **use\_devicesfile=0**\ If lvm.conf use\_devicesfile is set to 0, then the devices file feature is disabled, even if the system.devices file exists.\ - • **--devicesfile ""**\ If an empty devices file name is specified on the command line, then that command will not use a devices file.\ - • **--devices** *device*\ If specific devices are named on the command line with --devices, then the command will not use a devices file, and will only access the named devices. - • **pvs -A**\ If given the -A or --allpvs option, the [**pvs**(8)](/pvs/8.md) command will not use a devices file. When the devices file is disabled, lvm commands revert to using the lvm.conf filter. When the devices file is used, lvm commands ignore the lvm.conf filter setting, except for vgimportdevices which does apply the regex filter to the set of devices on the system when looking for VGs to import to the devices file. ### VG metadata LVM commands that write VG metadata will include the device ID of each PV in the VG metadata. The device ID can be displayed with the options: **pvs -o deviceidtype,deviceid** (Note that the lvmdevices command does not update VG metadata, but subsequent lvm commands modifying the metadata will include the device ID.) ### creating the devices file If the system.devices file does not yet exist, the pvcreate or vgcreate commands will create it only if they see no existing VGs on the system. lvmdevices --adddev and vgimportdevices will always create a new devices file if it does not yet exist. ## USAGE Print devices in the devices file. **lvmdevices** \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Check the devices file and report incorrect values. **lvmdevices** **--check** \[ **--refresh**\]\ \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Update the devices file to fix incorrect values. **lvmdevices** **--update** \[ **-f**\|**--force** ... \]\ \[ **--delnotfound**\]\ \[ **--refresh**\]\ \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Add a device to the devices file. **lvmdevices** **--adddev** *PV* \[ **--deviceidtype** *String* \]\ \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Remove a device from the devices file. **lvmdevices** **--deldev** *String* \[ **--deviceidtype** *String* \]\ \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Find the device with the given PVID and add it to the devices file. **lvmdevices** **--addpvid** *String* \[ **--deviceidtype** *String* \]\ \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Remove the devices file entry for the given PVID. **lvmdevices** **--delpvid** *String* \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Find the device with the given device\_id and add it to the devices file. **lvmdevices** **--addid** *String* **--deviceidtype** *String* \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Remove the devices file entry with the given device\_id. **lvmdevices** **--delid** *String* **--deviceidtype** *String* \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Print device\_id types and values available for the device. **lvmdevices** **--listids** *PV* \[ **--deviceidtype** *String* \]\ \[ COMMON\_OPTIONS \] — Common options for lvm: \[ **-d**\|**--debug** ... \]\ \[ **-h**\|**--help**\]\ \[ **-q**\|**--quiet** ... \]\ \[ **-t**\|**--test**\]\ \[ **-v**\|**--verbose** ... \]\ \[ **-y**\|**--yes**\]\ \[ **--commandprofile** *String* \]\ \[ **--config** *String* \]\ \[ **--devices** *PV* \]\ \[ **--devicesfile** *String* \]\ \[ **--driverloaded** **y**\|**n** \]\ \[ **--journal** *String* \]\ \[ **--lockopt** *String* \]\ \[ **--longhelp**\]\ \[ **--nohints**\]\ \[ **--nolocking**\]\ \[ **--profile** *String* \]\ \[ **--version**\] ## OPTIONS - **--adddev** *PV* Add a device to the devices file. - **--addid** *String* Find the device with the given device\_id and add it to the devices file. - **--addpvid** *String* Find a device with the PVID and add the device to the devices file. - **--check** Checks the content of the devices file. Reports incorrect device names or PVIDs for entries. - **--commandprofile** *String* The command profile to use for command configuration. See [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md) for more information about profiles. - **--config** *String* Config settings for the command. These override [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md) settings. The String arg uses the same format as [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md), or may use section/field syntax. See [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md) for more information about config. - **-d**\|**--debug** ... Set debug level. Repeat from 1 to 6 times to increase the detail of messages sent to the log file and/or syslog (if configured). - **--deldev** *String* Remove a device from the devices file. When used alone, --deldev specifies a device name. When used with --deviceidtype, --deldev specifies a device id. - **--delid** *String* Remove the device with the specified device ID from the devices file. - **--delnotfound** Remove devices file entries with no matching device. - **--delpvid** *String* Remove a device with the PVID from the devices file. - **--deviceidtype** *String* The type of device ID to use for the device. If the specified type is available for the device, then it will override the default type that lvm would use. - **--devices** *PV* Restricts the devices that are visible and accessible to the command. Devices not listed will appear to be missing. This option can be repeated, or accepts a comma-separated list of devices. This overrides the devices file. - **--devicesfile** *String* A file listing devices that LVM should use. The file must exist in */etc/lvm/devices/* and is managed with the [**lvmdevices**(8)](/lvmdevices/8.md) command. This overrides the [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md) **devices/devicesfile** and **devices/use\_devicesfile** settings. - **--driverloaded** **y**\|**n** If set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper. For testing and debugging. - **-f**\|**--force** ... Override various checks, confirmations and protections. Use with extreme caution. - **-h**\|**--help** Display help text. - **--journal** *String* Record information in the systemd journal. This information is in addition to information enabled by the lvm.conf log/journal setting. command: record information about the command. output: record the default command output. debug: record full command debugging. - **--listids** *PV* Print a list of device IDs available for the device. - **--lockopt** *String* Used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. See [**lvmlockd**(8)](/lvmlockd/8.md) for more information. - **--longhelp** Display long help text. - **--nohints** Do not use the hints file to locate devices for PVs. A command may read more devices to find PVs when hints are not used. The command will still perform standard hint file invalidation where appropriate. - **--nolocking** Disable locking. Use with caution, concurrent commands may produce incorrect results. - **--profile** *String* An alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command. - **-q**\|**--quiet** ... Suppress output and log messages. Overrides --debug and --verbose. Repeat once to also suppress any prompts with answer 'no'. - **--refresh** Search for missing PVs on new devices, and update the devices file with new device IDs for the PVs if they are found on new devices. This is useful if PVs have been moved to new devices with new WWIDs, for example. The device ID type and name may both change for a PV. WARNING: if a PV is detached from the system, but a device containing a clone or snapshot of that PV is present, then refresh would replace the correct device ID with the clone/snapshot device ID, and lvm would begin using the wrong device for the PV. Use deldev/adddev to safely change a PV device ID in this scenario. - **-t**\|**--test** Run in test mode. Commands will not update metadata. This is implemented by disabling all metadata writing but nevertheless returning success to the calling function. This may lead to unusual error messages in multi-stage operations if a tool relies on reading back metadata it believes has changed but hasn't. - **--update** Update the content of the devices file. - **-v**\|**--verbose** ... Set verbose level. Repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the detail of messages sent to stdout and stderr. - **--version** Display version information. - **-y**\|**--yes** Do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume the answer yes. Use with extreme caution. (For automatic no, see -qq.) ## VARIABLES - *String* See the option description for information about the string content. - *Size*\[UNIT\] Size is an input number that accepts an optional unit. Input units are always treated as base two values, regardless of capitalization, e.g. 'k' and 'K' both refer to 1024. The default input unit is specified by letter, followed by \|UNIT. UNIT represents other possible input units: **b**\|**B** is bytes, **s**\|**S** is sectors of 512 bytes, **k**\|**K** is KiB, **m**\|**M** is MiB, **g**\|**G** is GiB, **t**\|**T** is TiB, **p**\|**P** is PiB, **e**\|**E** is EiB. (This should not be confused with the output control --units, where capital letters mean multiple of 1000.) ## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES See [**lvm**(8)](/lvm/8.md) for information about environment variables used by lvm. For example, **LVM\_VG\_NAME** can generally be substituted for a required VG parameter. ## SEE ALSO [**lvm**(8)](/lvm/8.md), [**lvm.conf**(5)](/lvm.conf/5.md), [**lvmconfig**(8)](/lvmconfig/8.md), [**lvmdevices**(8)](/lvmdevices/8.md), [**pvchange**(8)](/pvchange/8.md), [**pvck**(8)](/pvck/8.md), [**pvcreate**(8)](/pvcreate/8.md), [**pvdisplay**(8)](/pvdisplay/8.md), [**pvmove**(8)](/pvmove/8.md), [**pvremove**(8)](/pvremove/8.md), [**pvresize**(8)](/pvresize/8.md), [**pvs**(8)](/pvs/8.md), [**pvscan**(8)](/pvscan/8.md), [**vgcfgbackup**(8)](/vgcfgbackup/8.md), [**vgcfgrestore**(8)](/vgcfgrestore/8.md), [**vgchange**(8)](/vgchange/8.md), [**vgck**(8)](/vgck/8.md), [**vgcreate**(8)](/vgcreate/8.md), [**vgconvert**(8)](/vgconvert/8.md), [**vgdisplay**(8)](/vgdisplay/8.md), [**vgexport**(8)](/vgexport/8.md), [**vgextend**(8)](/vgextend/8.md), [**vgimport**(8)](/vgimport/8.md), [**vgimportclone**(8)](/vgimportclone/8.md), [**vgimportdevices**(8)](/vgimportdevices/8.md), [**vgmerge**(8)](/vgmerge/8.md), [**vgmknodes**(8)](/vgmknodes/8.md), [**vgreduce**(8)](/vgreduce/8.md), [**vgremove**(8)](/vgremove/8.md), [**vgrename**(8)](/vgrename/8.md), [**vgs**(8)](/vgs/8.md), [**vgscan**(8)](/vgscan/8.md), [**vgsplit**(8)](/vgsplit/8.md), [**lvcreate**(8)](/lvcreate/8.md), [**lvchange**(8)](/lvchange/8.md), [**lvconvert**(8)](/lvconvert/8.md), [**lvdisplay**(8)](/lvdisplay/8.md), [**lvextend**(8)](/lvextend/8.md), [**lvreduce**(8)](/lvreduce/8.md), [**lvremove**(8)](/lvremove/8.md), [**lvrename**(8)](/lvrename/8.md), [**lvresize**(8)](/lvresize/8.md), [**lvs**(8)](/lvs/8.md), [**lvscan**(8)](/lvscan/8.md), [**lvm-fullreport**(8)](/lvm-fullreport/8.md), [**lvm-lvpoll**(8)](/lvm-lvpoll/8.md), [**blkdeactivate**(8)](/blkdeactivate/8.md), [**lvmdump**(8)](/lvmdump/8.md), [**dmeventd**(8)](/dmeventd/8.md), [**lvmpolld**(8)](/lvmpolld/8.md), [**lvmlockd**(8)](/lvmlockd/8.md), [**lvmlockctl**(8)](/lvmlockctl/8.md), [**lvmdbusd**(8)](/lvmdbusd/8.md), [**fsadm**(8)](/fsadm/8.md), [**lvmsystemid**(7)](/lvmsystemid/7.md), [**lvmreport**(7)](/lvmreport/7.md), [**lvmcache**(7)](/lvmcache/7.md), [**lvmraid**(7)](/lvmraid/7.md), [**lvmthin**(7)](/lvmthin/7.md), [**lvmvdo**(7)](/lvmvdo/7.md), [**lvmautoactivation**(7)](/lvmautoactivation/7.md)